It’s already been a whhole week since comedy legend (and occasional 50s Hollywood hearthrob) Leslie Nielson sadly passed away. Unfortunately we forgot to mention it at the time because we were too busy hiding whoopee cusions around our bosses office. Don’t think we’re disrespectful however: Once we realised Steve Martin wasn’t funny anymore Leslie became our go-to guy for white haired comedy and occasional glimpses of Pricilla Presley’s arse, which means we’re glad to see the excellent folks at London’s Everyman cinema are putting on a tribute to the great man himself this Friday, 10th December.
If you’re at a loose end in Islington tomorrow night, head on down to the Everyman screen on the green at 11.30pm, and bear witness to the film that changed Nielsons career altogether (All: That changed Nielson’s career).
Let’s be honest, you were planning on watching wrestling girl scouts anyway, so why not have a few laughs at the same time?
Tickets start at £11 and are available now from the box office -give ‘em a buzz on 0871 906 9060 or online atwww.everymancinema.com
We first spoke about the notrious BiffCo waaaay back in our evil Mega Corporations list when we were first starting out here at STS. At the time there was little information available on the man, nay, the legend that was alternate evil Biff Tannen, but today we did get a glimpse into what might have been, as this complete footage from the Biff Tannen museum finally popped up on YouTube.
We were actually supposed to put up our Harry Potter AND Skyline reviews today. But unfortunately I was too lazy/had real work to do, so you’ll have to wait until tomorrow. Stop whining you feckless dogs, and instead bask in the magnificence of the few morsals we do charitably throw you from our gilded movie castle – here’s the new trailer for awesome explody alien-dfest Battle:LA for starters.
What’s the odds on the Hollywood sign getting blown up at some point then?
Yeah yeah, we know, you’re suffering from Tron:Legacy overload, but the hell with it, here’s the new trailer anyway – only a month to go!Oh, and just for fun, here’s the last banner ad which we forgot about, mainly because I had it on a flash key that I dropped down the side of my wardrobe. Betting Kevin Flynn never has that problem…
Going in to former BBC visual effects guru Gareth Edwards’s first big screen foray, it’s forgivable if audience and reviewer alike are amped up in expectation of this year’s ‘District 9′, so it comes as a shock when we get a rambling, very human drama that meanders along at a pace that matches it’s protagonists long trip across central America towards their comfy suburban homes.
In terms of plot, there’s a fairly straightfoward setup that’s efficiantly dealt with in the opening credits. At some point in the past a space probe is sent to investigate possible alien life, on it’s return, the probe breaks up over Mexico, causing strange new life-forms to arise and spread. In the panic the US and Mexico wall off much of central America and begin a long running (and possibly futile) battle to halt the spread.
Cast into the middle of this we find photographer Andrew (a rangey and able Scoot McNairy), tasked with escorting his boss’ injured daughter Sam (the elfin, and frankly too-sexy-by-half Whitney Able) home from South America. With no ferries or air travel available across the ‘infected zone’, they find themselves forced to cross the heavily guarded no man’s land, first in the company of gun-weilding mercenaries, then finally trekking up to a mile high wall erected as protection by the US.
Of cours, the US has resorted to walls and violence to keep the alien invaders out – anyone miss the metaphor?
And that, in a nutshell, is the biggest problem here. The heavy handed preaching unfortuantely becomes grating and patronises the audience, while the central characters lack empathy – Sam is a spoilt little rich girl, Andrew is..well, a bit of a dick really, meaning scenes which could have been emotionally stirring are rendered isolated and quickly dismissed. The characters (of course) begin to fall for each other, but they never develop in any noticable way despite the horrors they witness on their journey.
Edwards litters the script with wishy-washy liberalisms too. The soldiers in the jungle talk about the wall with Sam who agrees “hey, yeah, it’s like, we’re fencing ourselves in…man…” while on reaching the wall Andrew pipes up with the oh-so-wise 2 it’s so weird, looking into the US from outside, you know? And tomorrow it’ll be so easy to forget all this…”
Wow man…like…mind. BLOWN!
or not. If you’ve a modicum of intelligence you’ll recognise these as first year student ramblings, poorly formed and ill-advised. The underlying message here is that hey, even if things seem different, we’re all the same deep down man,. Can’t we all just get along? A point hammered home as the pair witness a bizarre alien mating ritual once they’re over the border. Hey man, they tried to stem the flood of illegal aliens into the country, but they got in anyway dude, and hey – they’re a lot like us really aren’t they? (apart from being 80-foot tall photonic Octopusephants obviously).
On the plus side Edwards has a superlative eye for cinematography, catching the startling latin scenery in awe inspiring detail. Magnificent ancient ziggaruts contrast starkly with scenes of urban decay and genuinely realistic military destruction, while the waters on an ill-advised river trip are magical, calling to mind Eric Gautier’s wonderful work in The Motorcycle Diaries. The quiet beauty is wonderfully realised.
As a nature documentary, this would be stirring stuff, but as a movie, it’s meandering, overlong and misguided. it’s crass to say so but the film fairly cries out for a few good action sequences. Instead we get a mish-mash of ‘Blue Planet’ with splashes of Jurassic Park and Schindlers List, minus the excitement or emotional heft of either.
Overall, this is a good looking but unrewarding watch.
